Jobs of the Future

If you come home from a miserable day at a job that you hate, spend the night watching Futurama on TV, and wish you worked at a cool place like Planet Express, dream no more my mutant friend. There are some very cool jobs on the horizon, and you won’t have to wait until the 31st-century to apply.

Wendy Enelow, founder of the Career Thought Leaders Consortium recently announced a list of new careers and opportunities of the future –2020, 2030, and beyond.

If you’re young, you have plenty of time to start rethinking your career goals. If you’re old, well, start preparing your grandkids for some very out-of-sight jobs that you only dreamt of while watching the Jetsons back in the 60’s.

There are expected to be career opportunities for space sweepers- that’s right, space sweepers. Job description? “One who will control debris from outer space that has accumulated as a result of space exploration that may pose health, environmental, and safety concerns.”

Here are two more: energy harvesters, who will combine engineering and construction skills to explore alternative forms of energy; and extinction revivalists are genetics specialists who will revive extinct species of animals.

Now don’t settle into the couch with the remote thinking these jobs are too far out – and far away – because they’re not.

Jobs such as brain signal decoders (mind readers) that translate brain signals into words to help patients who are unable to speak is a career that is already hot.

“We have been able to decode spoken words using only signals from the brain with a device that has promise for long-term use in paralyzed patients who cannot now speak,” says Bradley Gregger, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Utah. “This is a great career, and I think more and more people will start looking into it.”

Other futuristic gigs will be exobotanists and exozoologists; translation – folks who will study potential life forms on planets outside our solar system.

Futuristic jobs in emerging technologies include digital identity planners, people who will help others control and manage their online identity, and digital archaeologists who research about a person or company from the Internet. This gig gives new meaning to “digging up dirt.”

If you’re looking at new careers in medicine, more people are training to be environmental health nurses.

“My job is to make sure workers who work with chemicals are informed about the health hazards they work with,” says Jerry Sullivan, one such nurse, “They need to understand that they may be exposing their families to the same hazards from their jobs if they don’t take precautionary measures.”

Sullivan works all over the world helping out when there is a hazardous spill or an outbreak of health issues because of a chemical mishap.

“This is an exciting and rewarding job,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know about it but because of our changing world, I think there will be more and more (job) opportunities.”

According to Enelow, another cool job in the medical field will be Bio-Botic Physicians- people who will work on medical device technologies that improve health and lifespan. These workers will repair devices and resolve complications between the natural biology and nanobots (biological machines).

While many of these jobs will require degrees and lots of indoor time, if you like fresh air and good food, you might consider becoming a organic food farmer. Currently organic food makes up about 10 percent of the food and beverage market – and it’s only going to increase. As a result, more organic farmers and producers will need to improve organic farming techniques and grow the food.

This is just a sampling for what the future holds for job seekers in the next 10, 20 and 30 years. There will be plenty of exciting new opportunities for you if you just look beyond your living room. Of course, you can always deliver pizzas – that job will be around till infinity and beyond.